Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon 1305B001 WD-H37C Wide Converter Lens for HF10, HF100 & HR10 Camcorders

This is one of those add-ons that make you wonder how you managed without it. First and foremost, it adds *significant* coverage for landscape or group shots (and when isn't covering the scene important, anyway?) and still leaves a generous zoom of 8.4x. This isn't even a trade-off in my book. Another non-issue (for me) is the fact that it blocks the on-board light, which makes the scene look terrible (casts a harsh blue fringe) & should only be used in emergencies. Plenty of manual controls abound for control of low-light scenes, but that's for another review...

As a somewhat superficial "plus," it looks fantastic on the HF100. The lens is also substantial and completely integrates with the solid feel (and look) of the HF100. It does change the weight distribution of the camera to a noticeable extent, almost shifting it into a mid-size unit in terms of grip, feel and storage (for which Canon supplies a nicely done soft pouch that ties at the top).

The only potential negative is that it blocks the flash (unless you find the pronounced shadow/arc useful for artsy shots!) but I haven't yet found many shots that couldn't be dealt with using less extreme measures. This is a great purchase!

I purchased this along with my HF10 after reading reviews of the rather limited field of view of current HD video cameras. I am very happy with the purchase as this lense stays on the camera. I shoot mostly indoor video of the kids and this really helps. As for lense quality, I've heard good things about it but don't have anything to compare it to. There are probably other cheaper options out there but I didn't want to purchase an inferior product that limits what I want to record: HD video.

The only negative that has more to do with the camera itself is that this lense blocks the built-in light (for night time use). An easy workaround is to get a secondary light to mount on the camera.

This was a very good purchase for what I use the camera for and I would buy it again if I were in the market.

This wide angle converter not only does exactly what I hoped it would do, it also looks good on the camera as well. The standard HF100 zoom lens probably only extends as wide as the equivalent of a 45mm lens on a 35 mm camera. With this attachment, I reckon it widens the view to something like a 30 mm lens equivalent on a 35 mm camera. Not quite as wide as a super wide angle, but a big improvement. I keep it on the camera most of the time now and I can't say I have noticed the image quality becoming degraded in any way as a result of doing so, plus you still get a really tight zoom angle when you choose to zoom in.

The WD-H37C is a very good wide angle lens that maintains a great image quality when shooting in Hi-Def with my Canon HV10 (HDV) camcorder.

The following are my main comments (not necessarily negatives for me):

- This lens blocks the flash when you're taking still pictures.
- This lens blocks the "eye" for the instant AF, BUT auto focusing still is very consistent while shooting.
- The lens I got is Titanium finish (in color), so it's slightly different than my camcorder's finish.
- The lens is heavy and big, but I can still place my camcorder on a desk without it falling or being too head-heavy.
- I found screwing-down the lens to the camcorder can be a bit tricky, so it's better to rotate it counter clock-wise a little so both threads seat right, before screwing it clock-wise. Don't force it!
- I found two Wide Angle lens options from Canon in Amazon, but decided to choose the WD-H37C because it's the only one mentioned in my HV10 owner's manual.
- Shipment was fast.

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Hope that helps!

I bought this lens within a week of buying Vixia HF100. I knew it would be useful if I want to capture wider shots, but I was having a hard time justifying it's price (I paid $140 back in May 2008 I guess). I bought it anyway because I liked the build quality, read good reviews, and felt that it complimented my Vixia HF100 very well too.

But ever since I first used it, I have rarely taken it off. Seriously. Once you shoot with this lens on, and see that your videos capture a lot more without any visible distortion (except when you have geometrically straight lines in the backdrop e.g. pillars) you will be tempted to keep it on all the time. I even love the look of the camera with this lens on, and feel something is missing if I ever take it off for some reason.

As others have said, this lens does block the light and flash. I suspect it blocks the mic too. I haven't bothered to confirm the extent to which it impacts voice recording, but it's certainly not significant.

So overall, I think this is a great buy. a MUST-HAVE item if you own Vixia HF100, HF10 or HF11. Actually, a lens of such a superior quality is a great buy for any 37mm camera that you can fit it on.

P.S: On a side note, I feel the color and overall appearance of this lens suits the silver HF100 much more than the black HF10. So granted HF10 looks more sexy in black, but if you end up keeping this lens on all the time like I (and most others do), then I think you'll be happier if you owned the HF100 :-)